Improvement in pruning-shears



UNITED STATES RANSOM BULLARD, OF LITCHFIELD, MICHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENTIN PRUNlNG-SHEARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 126,443, dated May 7,1872.

' To all lwhom 'it may concern:

y of a side view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a front view 0f the same.thereof.

This invention has relation to pruningshears; and its object is toprovide a pair of shears whose blades will not cross and hack each otherin the cutting, and whose levers shall be so connected that theiroperation will not be obstructed by the interposition of branches,foliage, or other obstructions of like nature.

In the accompanying drawing, the letter A represents a long woodenhandle or lever, to one end of which is secured the shank a of one ofthe pruning-jaws B. Said shank is constructed with a slotted projection,b, part of which constitutes a shoulder, fitting into a recess in thehandle, and designed to aid in holding said shank securely. C designatesthe other handle or lever, which is provided with a projection, b',which enters the cleft end of the projection b, and is pivoted thereto.To the opposite sides of the handle C, at its upper part, are securedthe broad guiding-plates d, between which works the sliding shank of theknife D, slotted longitudinally, and workin g on a pin, d1, which passesthrough the slot d2. The upper part of the knife D is curved orhookshaped, the inner or cutting edge being convex. B represents thestationary jaw, secured, as above described, to the handle A. This jawextends upward on each side of the knife D, in the form of two plates,between which said knife is pivoted. These plates extend upward andinward from the shank portion, forming a projecting part, E. From thispart the blades of the jaw are curved outward, upward, and inward insemi- Fig. 3 is a rear view circular form, the cutting-edges being onthe concave sides of said blades. The knife D is pivoted at about thecenter of the projecting portion E, and the arrangement is such that apart or continuation of the cutting edge shall at all times be withinthe cleft of the jaw B. The design of this construction is to preventthe blades from crossing in making the cut and hacking each other.Material aid in eifecting this object is derived from the broad shank ofthe knife D and the broad guiding plates d, between which it slides.Full allowance is made in the construction of the jaw B and its shankfor the movement of the shank of the knife and the upper end of thelever C in opening the jaws to their full width. The end of the shank ofthe knife is arranged so that when the blades are open t0 their widestextent it will strike the inside of the opposite lever and st-op themovement.

It will be observed that the space z, bounded by the projections b b',and by the shanks of the jaws and the upper portion of the lever C,becomes enlarged when the jaws are brought together, so that there is nodanger of obstruction in the cutting operation by the interposition ofbranches in this space.

The projecting stop F is placed some distance below the pivot-pieces b bsufficiently far down to be out of the way of branches in all ordinaryoperations. The stop is also of sufficient length to keep the leverswell asunder, even when the jaws are closed. The projections b b',during the first part of the cut, are oblique to each other, butl comeinto line with each other at the end of the cut and during the greateststrain.

The cutting lever D is arranged in such a manner that its power shallrather be increased than diminished as the work of cutting through abranch progresses. lt will, as a lever, have more force in that portionof its cutting-edge nearest the fulcrum. The decrease of power whichoccurs as the action of the cutting-edge moves toward the point iscompensated by a gradual lengthening of the power-arm of thecutting-lever, effected by means of the slot d2.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The combination of the curved concave jaw B, having bent shank a anddouble guidehereunto subscribed my name in the presence plates at andbeyond the pivoted projection of two witnesses. E, with the convex-edgedknife-lever D, slot- RANSOM BULLARD. ted at its lower end7 theguide-plates d, pin d', pivoted projections b b', handles A C, andWitnesses: projecting stop F, substantially as specied. M. G. WHITNEY,

In testimony that I claim the above I have ANSON BUCK.

